A player -- your established MyPlayer, specifically -- suffers a career-ending knee accident and afterwards takes up the reins as general supervisor. Trade Kyrie Irving off or place him at another position; that is the crux of a team GM gig, with a sign of occasional inner team drama involved. NBA 2K19 MT is a stretch to call it a narrative mode since the menu does, but minor expansions into MyGM include dialogue exchanges and player interactions fresh to NBA 2K19.

Not only is there a story in MyGM, there's nevertheless a bevy of MyPlayer alternatives. Rather than invite Spike Lee to guide MyCareer (because he did back in NBA 2K16), NBA 2K19's approach settles down, focusing on the tumultuous rookie year of former street baller DJ.

It's largely satirical toward locker room civilization, a reprieve from the thick play of Madden NFL 18's Longshot or even previous years of NBA 2K. For instance, DJ's representative is not much of one, however, he does possess a catchphrase: "Eat what you kill." The characters do not appear to comprehend what that means (and they say so), but NBA 2K19 runs with it to the comedy.

When playing as DJ, you are going to encounter NBA 2K19's "The Neighborhood." Consider it a hub of activity for DJ's career. At a MMO-lite twist, it's possible to walk around with multiple (hundreds, maybe, if servers fill up) of other player-controlled DJs, playing pickup games, trading scores at minigames or interacting. The presence of other players is normally pointless outside of mild competition, nevertheless; I ended up just ignoring the crowd.